


Days Gone By

by the_only_education_worth_having



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Comforting, Dementia, F/M, Heartbreak, Nurses & Nursing, Past Love, Rascal Flatts, Sad, Song fic, War, ellsworth - Freeform, memory problems, upset
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-17
Updated: 2020-02-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:20:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22770874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_only_education_worth_having/pseuds/the_only_education_worth_having
Summary: Peggy remembers.
Relationships: Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers





	Days Gone By

Sarah entered the key code on the door and pulled it open before climbing up the stairs to the first floor of the unit where she would be working. She went into the staff room and put her bag and coat in her locker before heading to the office where she found Brianna, the outgoing nurse, sat typing at her computer. She looked up as Sarah entered and smiled at her, ‘boy am I glad to see you.’  
‘Bad night?’ Sarah chuckled sitting opposite her at the desk.   
‘I’ll say,’ she sighed, ‘room 23 didn’t settle all night.’  
‘Peggy?’ She asked, ‘she was fine yesterday.’  
‘I know. They all just go a bit off at night.’ Brianna handed over all the nursing home residents to Sarah and then gave her the drug keys before saying her goodbyes. Sarah collected her keys and headed to the clinical ro to start her drug round. By this time all the residents had eaten breakfast and were either lounging in the tv room or back in their own bedrooms. She dished out medications in the main room before wheeling her cart to the individual rooms. 

She had almost done. She was in the last room on her round, Peggy’s. She liked Peggy. She admired her. She’d been a shield agent, fought in a war and raised a family on top of all that. She was amazing. She had been a resident for a long time, her dementia making it hard for her family to manage her day-to-day at home. They regretted their decision, it was never easy for families to leave their loved ones. Sarah had seen it time and time again but it was in Peggy & her families best interests. If last night’s report was anything to go by, she was in the best place for everyone. She peeked her head around the door assuming she’d find her tucked up in bed after being up most of the night but she found her pottering nervously around her room as if she were looking for something. 

‘Hello Peggy,’ Sarah said causing Peggy, who hadn’t paid attention to her yet, to look up. She eyed Sarah but didn’t respond as she continued to fiddle with each little trinket and bottle on her dressing table. ‘I’ve got some tablets for you Peg,’ she said offering a pot towards her but Peggy shook her head, ‘c’mon sweetheart, you’ve gotta take these they’re good for you.’  
Peggy didn’t listen to her, she just continued to mumble to herself.  
‘Okay,’ Sarah said placing the pot on the side, ‘let’s forget about that for a second. Are you okay?’  
‘Where is he?’ Peggy asked.   
‘Who?’  
‘He’s not here,’ she said, ‘he’s missing!’  
‘Your husband?’ Sarah said, ‘your boys?  
‘Steve!’ Peggy looked as if she were going to start crying so Sarah put her arm around her and cuddled her to her side. Peggy allowed Sarah to move her to sit on the bed for a moment. Sarah tried to think about Peggy’s background, she was sure none of her relatives was called Steve. Peggy’s husband Daniel had passed a couple of years ago and she sometimes forgot and became upset when she couldn’t find him in the home but she’d never mentioned a Steve. She listened to Peggy who seemed to be calming down by the minute. Soon Sarah felt able to stand up and as she did Peggy seemed to become more lucid.

‘Are you okay?’ Sarah asked after a couple of minutes.  
‘I’m okay,’ Peggy said, ‘have you brought my tablets dear?’  
‘Oh um yeah, they’re here,’ Sarah said watching her as she took the cup of pills and took them before she grabbed the cup of tea off the nightstand and swigged it. Sarah did the rest of her jobs with Peggy and then exited the room leaving the lady with her thoughts though she was intrigued to know who Steve was.  
Sarah finished her medicine round and continued doing all the jobs she needed to catch up on. It was evening before she even saw Peggy again as she had been locked away in her room all day by choice. It was her last job of the day. Peggy had an ulcer on her leg that needed dressing and so once again Sarah popped her head around the door.

‘Peggy,’ she said as she found the older lady dozing in her chair as the tv chatted idly in the background. Peggy woke slowly and smiled at Sarah beckoning her in as if she were welcoming her into her home for a catch-up.   
‘Hi dear,’ Peggy smiled.  
‘I’ve come to do your dressing,’ Sarah said walking into the room.  
‘Oh lovely,’ Peggy said watching as Sarah opened her dresser and pulled out all the dressings that we’re kept in there. She set up her station as they chatted idly before she started removing the dressings.

‘So Peggy,’ Sarah said remembering the conversation they had earlier, ‘you were a little upset earlier, are you okay now?’  
‘Oh was I?’ She said, ‘silly me. I’m fine.’  
‘Really? I was just worried I thought you might be missing your sons. I was going to give them a ring but I couldn’t find a number for Steve?’  
‘Steve?’ Peggy said a little shocked.  
‘Yeah, you said you wanted Steve. I couldn’t remember all that big family of yours though.’  
‘Steve’s not my family,’ Peggy sighed.  
‘No?’  
‘No,’ she said a little wistfully.

‘Tell me about him,’ Sarah’s said not looking up allowing her comment to be off the cuff allowing Peggy to opt-out if she wanted.  
‘Steve was…my first love,’ Peggy chuckled, ‘I loved him.’  
‘What happened between you two?’  
‘He went to war,’ she sighed, ‘honestly I didn’t love him at first. I mean he was the bravest person I had ever met but he was stupidly stubborn.’Sarah looked up at Peggy though she could tell she wasn’t with her. Her mind was in the past.   
‘Was he cute?’ Sarah chuckled.  
‘Stunningly so,’ Peggy laughed.  
‘How did you meet?’  
‘Howard Stark.’  
‘The bomb guy?’ Sarah asked as she started to trim the bandages around Peggy’s leg.  
‘Believe it or not, he did more than just bombs but this was back in the war bombs were a little important then.’  
‘I suppose so.’  
‘He recruited Steve. Made him a soldier. He saved a whole battalion and captured my heart at the same time but then he died. Gave his life to save others, he was the best man I ever knew.’  
‘That’s so sad,’ Sarah said as she finished up and collected the empty dressing packets throwing them in the small waste paper basket near her. She propped herself up off the floor moving to sit on the bed so she could listen to Peggy recant her tale.

‘I was heartbroken.’  
‘I bet.’  
‘But Steve visited me a few years later. I wish I could tell you how but I can’t explain it. He danced with me and told me he loved me. We shared a night together and then he had to go. He told me if he were to stay that everything wouldn’t be right,’ Peggy seemed to have such conviction in her tale Sarah couldn’t decide whether it made sense or not but she supposed if people could disappear for five years in the snap anything was possible, ‘Of course I found Daniel but I still loved Steve.’  
‘I’m sure Steve knew,’ Sarah said reaching out and holding Peggy’s hand with a smile. Peggy looked at her with a smile though her eyes seemed distant. Sarah collected herself and tidied up the rest of her things as ready to go and finish her charting before night staff arrived. As she moved to the door she heard Peggy call her name though it was barely more than a whisper.  
‘Yeah, Peg?’ She asked.  
‘Whose Steve?’

**Author's Note:**

> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iL1VXTBGQdI


End file.
